How Harry Potter can make you hate Donald Trump: Study finds J.K. Rowling books made people more tolerant and lowered their rating of Republican nominee

Harry Potter may be casting a spell on American voters.

A new study suggests that those who have read the fantasy series are less likely to support the Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Researchers believe this is because Trumps values oppose those of Harry Potter, making him appear more similar to Lord Voldemort than the mystical hero.

To test the explanation for the Harry Potter effect, the University of Pennsylvania focused on the three core themes of J.K. Rowling’s books: tolerance, resistance to authoritarianism and opposition to violence.

And the results of this study were found to hold true even after controlling for party affiliation, age, gender, education, religion and other factors.

With more than 450 million copies sold worldwide, Diana Mutz from the University of Pennsylvania and author of the study says the Harry Potter series that turned into a global phenomenon could be shaping political opinions of its readers.

‘Because Trump’s political views are widely viewed as opposed to the values espoused in the Harry Potter series, exposure to the Potter series may play an influential role in affecting how Americans respond to Donald Trump,’ Mutz shares in the study.